NEW YORK
A federal judge this week sentenced Michael Andres Miller to 15 years in prison for trafficking minors for sex in Queens, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to officials.
Miller previously pled guilty to this crime on May 9, 2017. Miller was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $9,500 to the minor victims identified in the indictment as Jane Doe #1, Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3, according to officials.
“The defendant Michael Andres Miller targeted and recruited young girls to engage in prostitution with adult men for his personal profit and without regard for the harm he was causing these vulnerable victims,” stated U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue of New York. “Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable for his predatory conduct. This Office, together with our law enforcement partners, will continue to investigate and prosecute those who seek to profit from the sexual exploitation of children.”
“Children are supposed to be protected by adults, not used as a means to make money,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney. “The mere idea that this man sold girls, one as young as 14, and even used them for his own sexual gratification boggles the mind. The FBI New York Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes the NYPD and other state and local law enforcement agencies, will continue to do all it can to stop these sex traffickers from taking advantage of young girls.”
According to court filings, the defendant oversaw a sex trafficking ring that preyed upon girls as young as 14 years old.
He recruited girls online, using popular social media applications including “Meet Me” and “Kik,” posted advertisements for them and prostituted them through the website Backpage.com, and had sex with at least two of these young girls.
In August 2016, police officers arrested the defendant and a co-defendant in a hotel room in Pennsylvania, where they also recovered the middle school identification card of one of the defendant’s victims, who the defendant was prostituting at nearby hotels, officials said.